Business Model

Question

Have you ever considered moving toward a loss-leader business model?

The theory is, you sell your principle product at a loss and make all your money on peripherals.

So for example, if you sold the ez-b for $50 and had a store with 500 items in it (instead of 15) you would foster wide adoption of the platform AND increase profits.

Just an idea..

jstarne1 · Answer

Sounds like walmart....

mcbaker01 · Answer

It also sounds like best buy, target, every major grocery store, restaurants, and tons of small service businesses. You are an ez-robot employee right?

DJ Sures · Answer

The EZ-Robot Kit and EZ-B were never really supposed to be released. We have been in product development for the past year on another product. The EZ-B was demanded by the community when I received attention from my first few robot projects. After thousands of emails, I noticed there were many people who wanted to build a robot but did not want to mess around with the difficult stuff. So I released the EZ-B, and the model I came up with works great - by not competing with all of the other "robot" companies. The R/C, Robot, Electronic Hobbyist market is selling 20 year old technology. Someone needs to change the game, otherwise we'll continue to be embarassments as Roboticists. The other hobby robot companies have given up on creating new innovative products. Everything is distance sensor with embedded Arduino and robots bouncing off walls or following lines. Won't impress anyone with that! If we were to begin focus on selling peripherals and add-ons, we would end up like all of the other electronic robot hobbyist companies. So for the time being, I don't mind when people shop for add-ons from other websites. We provide the cheapest prices for our add-on's because we're not greedy - we want you to build a robot and ask questions while doing so - we learn from that. Learning benefits our upcoming product. The existing model has been great to date - I created a very powerful hardware platform and versatile software framework. The two have the flexibility to easily support growth of new features with little effort. Providing the EZ-Robot product to the community at a low cost and encouring community feedback helps determine what features our next product needs. We have been developing two products at the same time. We will be disrupting the market with our new product. It will be publically announced next month... It is called EZ-Robot Revolution. Revolution is a game changer.

fxrtst · Answer

DJ , my eyebrow is raised. A game changer is just what is needed. How soon after the unveil will the Robot Revolution begin? IE release date?

jstarne1 · Answer

Im excited to hear more about the revolution

Rural Geek · Answer

eek Raise a glass to the robot revolution. @DJ do you have a date in January of when you are going to announce it, for us to count down to

Kenny Storm · Answer

@Josh: He asked if you were an employee I suppose that's a compliment:D

jstarne1 · Answer

@kenny & @mcbaker -yea that really is a compliment Thanks ! Im not an employee just a long time and very active member , but maybe one day -Josh S

DJ Sures · Answer

Hhehe thanks for your interest everyone I am super anxious to show you all! You know that you'll be first to know ill post it on here before anyone else sees it.

When I pla with the prototype, i get super excited. It's sooooo fun! I know telling you that doesn't make your anxiety any easier to see it... Sorry! Hehee

mcbaker01

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